For every thousand-word story published, there is another ten thousand-word story not written.

The evening I spent with Chris Uba in September 2004 was an eye opener for me in several ways. Many of them were not reported. The evening gave me an in sight into the thoughts, words and actions of the Ubas. But what was more terrifying was what I learnt about my friends.

I went for an evening with Chris Uba in company of three friends. We were all from New England , all engaged in commentary at different levels. As we drove behind Uba’s convoy, we were essentially of the opinion that all of us were seeking ways to institute good governance in Anambra State and fight for the welfare of our people.

You could therefore imagine my shock when one of us stood up in the middle of a private dinner presented to Chris Uba and declared to all present that he was committing his life to working for Chris. “Ochiagha, I believe in you,” he said. “I will use my talent to clear your name of these false allegations.”

That was few weeks after Chris Uba kidnapped Governor Chris Ngige.

I robbed my fingers across my eyes to make sure I was not dreaming. He was standing there, subdued in pose and eyes full of awe.

Chris Uba listened to him carefully. Thereafter, Chris called my friend into the inner chambers of his presidential suite at Hilton. What transpired inside, I do not know.

I knew that when my friend came out, I asked him what that was all about. He said it was time to use his skill and make a killing, time to get paid. He stated that if one really wished to belong, one had to join those like Uba who had the yam and the knife.

As we drove home after the evening, I appraised my friend. He had spent over ten years in America . He had reached what he perceived as an artificial ceiling in his profession. He was in his second marriage with child support burdens hanging on his head. Home had suddenly become not just an attractive alternative but virtually the last resort.

Incidentally, that was where Andy Uba was in California when Olusegun Obasanjo came and rescued him in 1999.

Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe is just like this my friend.

Ikenna met Okey Ndibe at an event in New Jersey . When Ikenna said he wanted to gain experience in investigative reporting, Okey introduced him to Sowore who happened to be at the same event. Ikenna wrote one story with Sowore. When the story of Andy Uba’s certificate fraud broke, Ikenna was approached by Andy Uba’s people. Soon after, he informed Sowore he had no interest in pursuing a follow up to the story. He turned around to begin to serve Master Andy Uba.

When asked by Okey and Sowore, he minced no words in saying that he had to get his own share of Andy Uba’s money.

Just before the election of 2007, Ikenna was sent to Nigeria as a member of the election monitoring team of Anambra Association in the United States . On getting to Anambra state, he told the association that he was abandoning their mission. He was going to do his monitoring alone. That was how Ikenna began to work for Andy.

Ikenna started Nanka.org. When he saw that the name of the site was damaged by anti-Obi (Anambra governor) articles/ false news he was publishing, he changed it to Ukpakareports.com.

When Ukpakareports.com began to stink for the same reason, he created Ogenereports.com.

His article Andy Uba & Okey Ndibe’s Activism was first published as a comment under a news piece in Vanguard newspaper concerning CLO backing Andy Uba’s quest to the Supreme Court. When confronted by Okey that he wrote the comment, Ikenna denied it.

Then Okey reminded him that nobody but him could have written it because the piece mentioned Okey as the journalist who first tagged Babangida “Maradona,” a disclosure that came out of a discussion he had with Okey in New Jersey .

That was when he stopped lying. He later decided to publish it on Nigeriavillagesquare.com under his real name.

Last weekend in Florida , Okey, while on a speaking engagement in Tampa took time to visit Miami where Anambra Association was having its convention. Ikenna was part of Andy Uba’s special delegation to the convention. Okey made effort to see Ikenna and ask him, Man, what happened to you? But Ikenna would not come out to see Okey. When Okey called Ikenna’s hotel room he told Okey he was sleeping.

Of course, Ikenna has every right to join the feast of excrement. What he is not doing right is pretending here that he is an independent observer.

For those close to events in Anambra state, it is a known fact that if you are in need of money, all you need to do is to write an article abusing Okey Ndibe. Once you show a copy to Andy Uba, he will give you Ghana must go bag.

I was informed by those close to Andy Uba that anyone who can create a webpage like okeyndibesucks.com, okeyndibeisaknucklehead.com, Andy will pay the person millions and put him or her on his payroll for life.

Ellis-Ezenekwe I, et al remind me of an uneducated village man who felt insulted when the village’s Post Master scolded him for an inappropriate behavior, saying certain words in English. The village man called his 7 year-old son and asked him to come and abuse the Post Master back.

His son came out, with his hands in his pockets, he faced the Post Master and began to shout in English:

“Obi is a boy.”

“ Ada is a girl.”

“Eze is going to school.”

The uneducated villager looked at his son proudly and said in Igbo, “My boy, give it to him. Keep pouring it out. He thinks he is the only one who can abuse others in English.”

“Kalu is running.”

“Mama is going to the market.”

“Today is Monday.”

With smiles beaming on his face, the proud Dad said, “Scream it, boy. Say it until you crack his ear drums.”

Like I have said many times before, Andy Uba is nothing but a heap of excrement by the road side. The only dignified thing anyone can do to it is to cover it with sand.

But for maggots and houseflies like Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, Jerome Azobuko, Sylvanus Nsofor, Chuka Nwosu, they know no better than to hover on top of the excrement mound.

Bad sons! Bad sons! Bad sons!

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Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo is the author of Children of A Retired God.

Corrections: I have discovered that Ikenna actually wrote more than one piece with Sowore before he told Sowore he had to go and “collect his reparation.” I regret that error. Also, Ikenna is insisting that he met Sowore before Okey introduced them in New Jersey . Ikenna’s recollection is different from that of Okey and Sowore.

Robot  Villager

# 1 I was informed by th...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 23.10.2007 15:52

lionking  Villager

# 2 A minor addendum. Ikenna was forced to drop nanka.org when his home people of Nanka became uncomfortable with his use of their town name to serve Andy Uba and project his political media consultancy business. In fact, the Nanka Town Union took out advertisements in the papers in Nigeria to disassociate Nanka as a town/people from Ikenna's website. To be fair to Ikenna, hs is only following in the political jobbery footsteps of Elendu of elendureports.com Posted by lionking| 23.10.2007 16:48

Zanderlex  Villager

# 3 Wonders shall never end. Pseudo-journalist in our mist are a danger to the society, we need a list of them and expose it, just like the corrupt nigerian politicians in our fight to rescue nigeria from evil. Posted by Zanderlex| 23.10.2007 16:50

Adeola Aderounmu  Villager

# 4 If I understand this story very well: Are you saying that Ikenna is a thief? You know, pen robber of a sort? _________________________________________________________________ we need a list of them and expose it, just like the corrupt nigerian politicians in our fight to rescue nigeria from evil.-----Zanderlex Are you asking me to write another hall of fame? If YES, then I'm gonna think about it. _________________________________________________________________ http://aderinola.wordpress.com Posted by Adeola Aderounmu| 23.10.2007 17:23

katampe  Villager

# 5 To be rational, you have to be political. Adversarial journalism breeds contempt and limits your audience. I am thinking that is what Okey's effort getting to, hence his junior colleagues are jumping ship. At point, there needs a time when a political writer/journalist needs to move from an adversarial approach to collective problem solving. Ngige, although a medical professional tried this in a perverse manner, though it backfired. It is for the likes of Okey to fine tune his strategy. I have read Ndibe I say again since he was at Insitute of Management and Technology, Owerri (IMT), but his current tack on political issues begs reason. Reading his write-ups, sometimes it come across as a pathetic venture. Gradually he is loosing the finesse that would have further expanded his base of readers. Now take the case of Wole Soyinka for example, the man engages intermittently and to the extent his message has an audience when he launches his missiles and the stings are razor sharp. Facing an individual and pointedly rubbishing him in your messages blunts his message. I don't have much for Ikenna, even the name na wa. But what thing is certain , he has sold out big time. And like Obugi's signature, get yours ! Exactly, that is what his write up is about out. Like a Yoruba adage says, until " to wo e ba te ku ida lo le to bere iku to pa baba e, meaning until you grip the handle of a cutlass, you can't ask who killed your father. That hits at the heart of the matter. Getting anything done in Nigeria nowadays requires a hell of money, I am sure iot existed in Nnamdi Azikwe's time, even Ojukwu launched his war on the condition that his father was a very rich man. Okey Ndibe should never lose sight of these little details, people encourage you, but when the **** hits the fan, they will end up answering their father's name. That piece of advice he should never lose sight off, Nigeria is complex and its environment as prospects for one's ideal is almost impossible. You must learn to play a bit of politics once in a while. Reading Soyinka's piece on Babaginda , even though his message was spot on and a homer, it was still very measured. Posted by katampe| 23.10.2007 18:12

emj  Villager

# 6 Ellis-Ezenekwe I, et al remind me of an uneducated village man who felt insulted when the village’s Post Master scolded him for an inappropriate behavior, saying certain words in English. The village man called his 7 year-old son and asked him to come and abuse the Post Master back. His son came out, with his hands in his pockets, he faced the Post Master and began to shout in English: “Obi is a boy.” “ Ada is a girl.” “Eze is going to school.” The uneducated villager looked at his son proudly and said in Igbo, “My boy, give it to him. Keep pouring it out. He thinks he is the only one who can abuse others in English.” “Kalu is running.” “Mama is going to the market.” “Today is Monday.” With smiles beaming on his face, the proud Dad said, “Scream it, boy. Say it until you crack his ear drums.” Like I have said many times before, Andy Uba is nothing but a heap of excrement by the road side. The only dignified thing anyone can do to it is to cover it with sand. But for maggots and houseflies like Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, Jerome Azobuko, Sylvanus Nsofor, Chuka Nwosu, they know no better than to hover on top of the excrement mound. Bad sons! Bad sons! Bad sons Hmmm...ROO....da above is very hillarious:lol::lol: Posted by emj| 23.10.2007 18:34

Big-K  Villager

# 7 To be honest, Ikenna needs to explain his transition from exposing Uba's fake degree to defending those same degrees. Or maybe this Ikenna is different from that Ikenna. . Posted by Big-K| 23.10.2007 19:38

Ednut  Villager

# 8 If you are from the old East Central State or old Anambra State of the 1970’s/80’s, then chances are they you knew who R.O. Nkwocha ( Ide of Enugwu Ukwu) was. R.O. was so rich that during town philanthropic lunches, he will double whatever the entire town contributed to whatever project. R.O. also had the most lavishly built house in the choicest path of independence layout Enugu. Well, that property was sold to Andy Uba recently and the first thing Mr. Uba did was demolish every single property in that compound. Mr. Uba is currently building his own grand mansion where the mansion of R.O. once stood. On the current topic, it is a shame that some of our people will sale out so cheap. Posted by Ednut| 23.10.2007 20:06

Ebe2  Villager

# 9 Turncoats will always rationalize their actions with the so-called imperative of survival. For some people the principle of being content with what you have has no meaning. Hence their willingness to sell their soul for money. Like Big K, I immediately recognized the Ikenna name as the same one that co-authored the excellent piece on Andy Ubah's fake degrees. What in the world have people become? What prompted him to publicly repudiate that fine piece of investigative reporting? The most hillarious part of his write-up is his assertion that Andy is not working with his fake degrees and is using his dirty money to support MASSOB militants. I believe that such an action, if true, would amount to money laundering. I also believe that Mr. Ikenna knows that Andy initially tendered those fake degrees in his INEC forms and only sneaked them out fraudulently when he was exposed. Posted by Ebe2| 23.10.2007 20:35

Oguguo Yakere  Villager

# 10 Katampe, What do you say to Nuhu Ribadu who is now confronting the big time criminals in the country? With people like you nothing will change in Nigeria. Instead of calling for more people to join and function like Okey Ndibe, you chose to recommend freaking out. Posted by Oguguo Yakere| 23.10.2007 20:46

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